37.1770, Confs: Oral Tradition: New Directions for the Analysis of Linguistic-Typological Change (Mexico)

Fri May 15 12:05:02 UTC 2026

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1770. Fri May 15 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1770, Confs: Oral Tradition: New Directions for the Analysis of Linguistic-Typological Change (Mexico)

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Date: 13-May-2026
From: Denisse Martínez [denissef.martinezm at gmail.com]
Subject: Oral Tradition: New Directions for the Analysis of Linguistic-Typological Change

Oral Tradition: New Directions for the Analysis of
Linguistic-Typological Change

Date: 09-Nov-2026 - 10-Nov-2026
Location: Hermosillo, Mexico
Meeting URL:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t1DQgGQOxf1vqL5ub2g7zW058EnS2MPd/view?usp=drive_link

Linguistic Field(s): Typology
Subject Language(s): English (eng)
                     Spanish (spa)

Submission Deadline: 30-Aug-2026

Traditionally, the study of grammatical behavior across languages has
focused almost exclusively on morphological properties, including
inflection, derivation, and word-class composition (Matthews 1974,
1991). Later developments in linguistic theory shifted attention to
sentence structure through Phrase Structure Grammar (Chomsky 1957),
followed by an emphasis on the distinction between competence and
performance (Chomsky 1965). This latter perspective positioned
linguistics as primarily concerned with abstract knowledge of
language, often at the expense of actual language use. As a result,
for over half a century, most grammatical and typological studies have
concentrated on identifying systematic and regular patterns across
languages.
This perspective also shaped typological research, privileging the
analysis of universal grammatical tendencies and prototypical patterns
attested across large language samples (WALS 2013). However, more
recent approaches have significantly reoriented the field.
Developments in Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995; Croft 2001) and
Usage-Based Linguistics (Bybee 2006, 2010, 2023), along with emerging
work that integrates sociolinguistic and cultural dimensions into
typological inquiry (Di Garbo et al. 2025), have underscored the
importance of grounding linguistic analysis in actual language use,
culture, and sociolinguistic aspects, such as bilingualism or contact.
Within this framework, linguistic data drawn from oral tradition
provide a particularly valuable context for examining language in use.
Such materials allow for a more nuanced understanding of linguistic
variation, typological diversity, and the socio-cultural factors that
shape them. Importantly, oral tradition offers access to natural,
spontaneous data that go beyond those typically obtained through
elicitation or experimental methods.
Attention to oral tradition enables the identification of linguistic
patterns associated with incipient processes of change, as well as
forms shaped by culturally specific communicative needs. These include
recurrent or redundant structures, variation in expected
morphosyntactic patterns, and the use of pragmatic markers through
which speakers foreground cultural and communicative relevance in
relation to shared values and ecological contexts. Moreover, the
inherently natural character of oral discourse invites renewed
reflection on how languages change, the trajectories such changes may
follow, and the factors that motivate them.
Oral tradition constitutes a creative and dynamic domain of language
use, where tradition, memory, and present experience converge to
generate new meanings, construct evolving contexts, and negotiate
identities. As such, oral expressions play a central role in the
transmission of languages and Indigenous worldviews, while also
fostering innovation. The rich array of linguistic resources mobilized
in oral tradition makes it an especially productive domain for the
study of phonological, morphosyntactic, and discourse-level phenomena.
In light of recent advances in language documentation and oral
tradition studies, this seminar welcomes contributions that explore
diverse forms of oral expression and their impact on the linguistic
and discursive repertoires of the world's languages.
References:
Bybee, Joan. 2006. Language 82(4): 711733.
Bybee, Joan. 2010. Language Usage and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Bybee, Joan. 2023. What is Usage-Based Linguistics? In Manuel
Días-Campo and Sonia Balasch (eds.), The Handbook of Usage-Based
Linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell. 930.
Chomsky, Noam. 1957. Syntactic Structures. The Hague/Paris: Mouton.
Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Croft, William. 2001. Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory
in Typological Perspective. Oxford University Press.
Di Garbo, Francesca, Kaius Sinnemäki, and Eri Kashima. 2025. Towards
Greater Social Anchoring in Language Typology. Linguistic Typology at
the Crossroads 5(2): 1-35.
Dryer, Matthew S., and Martin Haspelmath (eds.). 2013. The World Atlas
of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology. https://wals.info/
Goldberg, Adele E. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar
Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Matthews, Peter H. 1991 [1974]. Morphology: An Introduction to the
Theory of Word Structure, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.
Call for Papers:
The Workshop Oral Tradition: New Directions for the Analysis of
Linguistic-Typological Change will be held on November 910, 2026, at
the University of Sonora. It is organized by the Academic Group on
Linguistic Typology and Ethnocultural Studies.
We invite submissions that engage with linguistic data derived from
oral tradition and that demonstrate how such materials contribute to
understanding ongoing processes of linguistic change as well as a
source of knowledge of cultural and sociolinguistic aspects of the
native peoples from which the specific discursive manifestations
emanate.
Keynote Speakers:
Mily Crevels, Universidad de Leiden
Jaime Pérez González, Universidad de California, Santa Barbara
Doris Payne, Universidad de Oregon
Swintha Danielsen, (Europa-Universität Flensburg, KURS) (online
presentation)
Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: August 30, 2026
Notification of acceptance: September 10, 2026
Conference dates (hybrid format): November 9-10, 2026
Event logistics and Presentation Format:
Host institution: Departmento de Letras y Lingüística, University of
Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, México
Format: Hybrid (Zoom and on-site participation)
Please send abstracts to:
albert.alvarez at unison.mx
zarina.estrada at unison.mx
zarinaef at gmail.com
manuel.peregrina at unison.mx
Abstract Submission Guidelines:
Clearly state the theoretical or conceptual framework.
Specify the level of analysis or functional domain.
Include illustrative examples of the analyzed data.
Highlight the main contributions of the study.
Provide at least four relevant bibliographic references.

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